Voters Souring on Obama As Never Before ( Comments on the latest Polls and others Observations )

nymag.com ^ | 8/20/08 | Dan Amira Early and Often

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Though Obama's veep selection is imminent, he seems to be "Biden his time" (ha!) until later in the week to make the announcement. But with a slew of recent polls showing his lead against John McCain diminished or gone completely, some big news might be just what Obama needs. An LAT/Bloomberg poll has Obama up by just two points, while a Zogby poll released this morning shows McCain — yes, McCain — with a five-point lead. We've noted before how cyclic, ephemeral swings in the polls tend to send political observers into a frenzy. But these polls are part of a longer, more ominous trend for Obama. His momentum has vanished, the race has drawn to a dead heat, and Republicans are, maybe for the first time, showing some real optimism.

• Chuck Todd and friends contend that "there is no longer this widespread belief among the wise guys and gals of both parties that we're all just sitting around waiting for this race to break in Obama's direction." The Obama campaign can't afford to make mistakes, and the McCain campaign "thinks it can win," which "wasn’t the case a few months ago." [First Read/MSNBC]

• Nate Silver proclaims that "we are getting to the point where it would be hard to describe the election as anything other than 'too close to call'" (and that was before the new Zogby poll). [FiveThirtyEight]

• Michael Goodwin speculates that the media's "fawning coverage" of Obama, which the McCain campaign has highlighted with "The One," its nickname for the Democrat, may have caused voter resentment. [NYDN]

[N. Theknow]

Brer Democrat and the Tar Baby.

[Jess Kitting]

Barack's star is falling like a meteorite.

Will he be toast before the Dem convention?

Hillary must be rubbing her hands with glee.

[blondee123]

Obama is going to be like one of those boy bands ((New Kids, Minudo). The media goes wild, huge crowds, then all of a sudden people wake up and are embarrassed to admit they ever listened.

Exactly, that is because they promoted him like a Rock Star & not a candidate! DUmmies!

[piytar]

It is far simpler than that. “Above my pay grade” was Obama’s Dukakis Momment.

[Red Badger]

[LetsRok]

"Obama is going to be like one of those boy bands ((New Kids, Minudo). The media goes wild, huge crowds, then all of a sudden people wake up and are embarrassed to admit they ever listened."

You should add the "Bay City Rollers" to that list of bands.

[listenhillary]

More “nuance” needed NOW!

[AbeKrieger]

Wow, the messiah is not wearing any clothes !!!!

[sweetiepiezer]

Have you seen the tickets for the big event in the stadium?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2064232/posts

[Interesting Times]

McCain is up five? In a Zogby poll?

Oooooo.

[driftdiver]

The real question is whether he will remove the “President” embroidery on his Obama One throne.

[ModelBreaker]

...while a Zogby poll released this morning shows McCain — yes, McCain — with a five-point lead.

I'm taking this one with a grain of salt. Imagine a hypothetical pollster. Normally, this hypothetical pollster slants hai polls to favor the dem. So in this situation, he would normally release a Registered Voters poll (which favors the dem) and then move the numbers a couple of points toward the dem with sample selection.

Imagine that this same hypothetical pollster wanted HRC as the nominee. He might just release a likely voters poll on the eve of the convention with a couple of points of secret sauce added to McCain.

I can't imagine this would happen in the real world. But it might.

[workerbee]

If the Dems get rid of Obama, it could be a turning point for the black vote. The resentment will last for years

Quite the dilemma for the sociolibcommucrats, that's for sure.

[Gritty]

"... and, Barry, even if you get the nomination, it may not be the 'end of the story'. Take my word for it!"

[blondee123]

A DU opinion:

ProSense (1000+ posts) Wed Aug-20-08 11:17 AM Original message I'm so disappointed in Obama Advertisements [?]Why did he have to beat Hillary?

Why is he allowing McCain to catch up?

I don't care about his lead or his $51 million record fundraising.

His inexperience is showing, he should have lost to Hillary and should be losing to McCain.

[Eighth Square]

Add ‘Combat Kerry’ to the ticket and should do it!

[browardchad]

Dean Barnett thinks "the rest of the country is beginning to discover" that "Obama doesn’t wear well." His "potentially fatal lack of substance" may doom him, as could his "allergy to getting specific."

I don't agree with Barnett. The rest of the country (aside from those who would vote for this guy no matter what) is beginning to see the substance behind the hype -- abortion-or-bust, collectivism, massive tax hikes, lies, evasions, questionable fund-raising, elitism -- and it doesn't like what it sees.

[mc5cents]

Obama is the “Milli Vanilli” candidate, all he does is lip sync someone else’s words.

[Teacher317]

Tremendous unease out there on the Dem side. They are trapped. They can’t get rid of Obama, but they can’t win with him either.

They CAN get rid of him... it just needs to be done carefully, and allow Hillary to retain those monolithic black votes. They'll find a way to do it, and probably within the next 3-4 weeks.

[SaintDismas]

Yes indeed Lovely it is :)